Butler-Freeport trail parking lot closed for construction
Parking lots at the Laneville Trailhead at the Butler-Freeport Community Trail will be closed through at least Friday, Aug. 30, to make room for a road improvement project by the borough of Freeport on nearby Laneville Road.
“It’s mostly being done by the borough for drainage, but we do see benefits from it, because getting rid of the water is always an issue,” said Chris Ziegler, the trail’s executive director.
Ziegler urges users of the trail to use the parking lot at the Monroe Road Trailhead, located just north of the Laneville Trailhead.
“The closure is for your safety and the safety of the construction workers. Sometimes progress is an inconvenience, but this way everyone goes home at the end of the day,” Ziegler wrote on the trail’s Facebook group page. “Thank you to Freeport Borough for investing in this improvement.”
Ziegler says construction should finish by Friday assuming weather cooperates. If not, it will extend into the following week.
The trail has been busy making improvements to its facilities in recent days. On Friday, Aug. 23, the trail laid a new asphalt parking lot near the Marwood Trailhead in Winfield Township.
Ziegler says that this project was paid for by a grant from Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which provided about $320,000.
“We're wrapping up our DCNR grant, which included two parking lots and one mile of asphalt,” Ziegler said. “There’s still a little bit of work to do there for some drainage and some Jersey barriers and gates.”
Future construction on the trail will take place on undeveloped land south of the trail as part of its expansion project, which aims to extend the trail 0.6 miles south.
